I only play fighting games at LANs (and until recently tended to avoid it), but I've been an onlooker in an organisational capacity (I help with organising an anime convention that has fighting game tournaments) and as friend (my anime club liked to hang out at arcades).
1. Usual strategies for calming nerves, but I'll assume you already know / others will advise. =/
2. Sometimes there are local gaming communities (anime clubs, gaming clubs, mysterious arcade gaming communities that represent the "city scene"), will have hang outs, and can be a good way to interact with the "usual" or "hard-core" crowd in a less formal manner. In my experience it helps make it more normal - you'll recognise more of the faces etc.
I have no idea what's in your area, but the way I would go about trying to find what is;
(a) checking the local anime/pop culture convention, seeing if they have a meet ups section; or checking to see who's constantly posting about fighting games/game tournament threads and see if they link to the "real" "hard core" scene of your area. (In my experience there's usually at least one that does. :3 ) (b) checking out the local usual suspect uni groups (anime, games, dnd, geeks r us), again sometimes they'll post about events that they do on their website/forums that are open to all. (c) googling your area + tournament + arcade
3. Dragging more girls in? Moral support can help, or try getting them involved; although a group of girls who have no experience and no interest, taking up "precious" tournament spots is more likely to get a judging reaction than anything else, and it is really awkward being the bunch of newbies..
I found the best way to get girls more interested in fighting games is well lan parties/ movies days at someone's house, where they are not "the girlfriend", with an aesthetically pleasing game that is easy to button mash too. Also *cough* yaoi comments doesn't hurt either for certain sections of girls. Eventually working ways up to, one on one practice nights, and more uh, hostile/competitive environments (only now we stand a chance at getting some shots in the game. /bitter) Understanding that some characters, really are just harder to go up against and working out what character suits their playing style helps a lot.
Soul Calibur worked well in my case, particularly IV with Yoda and Vader. Some of the guy friends were even gracious enough to tell us the canon backstories that would assist to Our Interest. We can now compete evenly (or better with the right character) with the guy who owns the game, so we're a lot more confident picking up the controllers at club events, etc.
3.b. On that note moral support, period helps. So if you can't convince your girl friends to join in/cheer, try your guy friends.
4. While I haven't come across it for fighting/arcade games, it's not uncommon for tournaments to have women's divisions (such as Chess) to help make things more even for women playing competitively and can assist greatly with improving confidence for co-ed competitions. I can testify that female division tournaments can be very helpful for raising female presence/skill level, in male dominated hobbies. If you ever did find one, I would recommend checking it out. :3
5. The average, decent guy, really doesn't care about your gender. The ones that do, usually aren't the sort worth worrying about, so have fun, learn much and come back to have fun again. Even if you do bad at the tournament itself, try to get as much positive vibes from the event as you can.
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Date: 2010-08-25 12:52 pm (UTC)1. Usual strategies for calming nerves, but I'll assume you already know / others will advise. =/
2. Sometimes there are local gaming communities (anime clubs, gaming clubs, mysterious arcade gaming communities that represent the "city scene"), will have hang outs, and can be a good way to interact with the "usual" or "hard-core" crowd in a less formal manner. In my experience it helps make it more normal - you'll recognise more of the faces etc.
I have no idea what's in your area, but the way I would go about trying to find what is;
(a) checking the local anime/pop culture convention, seeing if they have a meet ups section; or checking to see who's constantly posting about fighting games/game tournament threads and see if they link to the "real" "hard core" scene of your area. (In my experience there's usually at least one that does. :3 )
(b) checking out the local usual suspect uni groups (anime, games, dnd, geeks r us), again sometimes they'll post about events that they do on their website/forums that are open to all.
(c) googling your area + tournament + arcade
3. Dragging more girls in? Moral support can help, or try getting them involved; although a group of girls who have no experience and no interest, taking up "precious" tournament spots is more likely to get a judging reaction than anything else, and it is really awkward being the bunch of newbies..
I found the best way to get girls more interested in fighting games is well lan parties/ movies days at someone's house, where they are not "the girlfriend", with an aesthetically pleasing game that is easy to button mash too. Also *cough* yaoi comments doesn't hurt either for certain sections of girls. Eventually working ways up to, one on one practice nights, and more uh, hostile/competitive environments (only now we stand a chance at getting some shots in the game. /bitter) Understanding that some characters, really are just harder to go up against and working out what character suits their playing style helps a lot.
Soul Calibur worked well in my case, particularly IV with Yoda and Vader. Some of the guy friends were even gracious enough to tell us the canon backstories that would assist to Our Interest. We can now compete evenly (or better with the right character) with the guy who owns the game, so we're a lot more confident picking up the controllers at club events, etc.
3.b. On that note moral support, period helps. So if you can't convince your girl friends to join in/cheer, try your guy friends.
4. While I haven't come across it for fighting/arcade games, it's not uncommon for tournaments to have women's divisions (such as Chess) to help make things more even for women playing competitively and can assist greatly with improving confidence for co-ed competitions. I can testify that female division tournaments can be very helpful for raising female presence/skill level, in male dominated hobbies. If you ever did find one, I would recommend checking it out. :3
5. The average, decent guy, really doesn't care about your gender. The ones that do, usually aren't the sort worth worrying about, so have fun, learn much and come back to have fun again. Even if you do bad at the tournament itself, try to get as much positive vibes from the event as you can.
As cliché as it sounds, it doesn't matter if you lose or win as long as you've had fun.